All Inclusive in Aruba

We decided to take a one week all-inclusive trip to Aruba in September, it gave us a break down south and a taste of the winter upcoming in the US.


We decided on Aruba since its out of the hurricane belt, only 22 miles north of Venezuela so it almost guarantees good weather. We weren't disappointed, the temps were in the mid 30's C with high humidity and no rain. Aruba is very dry, with cactus plants not a lot different than Arizona. They have one of the largest water desalination plants in the world since there is virtually no fresh water on the island.


We stayed at the RIU Palace hotel, one of the better hotels on the island, we enjoyed great food and a good beach.


A few pictures:


This is a view from our balcony, the pool is in front with the beach in the background:




Another view of the hotel from the water, our building is at the back, the other two are on each side:






This is a view of the beach from the poolside bar (one of Al's favourite hangouts as it was shady!):




We did more than sit around at the beach, we took a catamaran out so that Suzette could do some snorkeling. The water was clear and there even was a WW2 German boat that was sunk near the shore :





We took a jeep tour to the Atlantic side of the island where they have some natural limestone "bridges":



The recently married couple who were in our jeep were kind enough to take our picture:



The Atlantic side of the island is much rougher and less populated than the Caribbean side:




We recommend Aruba as a getaway location during the winter for folks looking for sun and sand!